Headlines for 19 May 2010

Winnipeg city council votes in secret over Veolia deal

Winnipeg's City Council will have voted in secret this morning on a deal to privatize part of the city's water treatment program.

If the deal is authorized, Veolia would design and build upgrades to two plants, and would manage and run the plants for 30 years.  Veolia claims that they would save the city between 10 and 20 per cent of the expected total $1.2 billion operating and capital costs.

The Winnipeg Free Press reports that there are many aspects of the proposed deal that remain a secret, including how much Veolia will make in profits, the penalty the city must pay to terminate the deal, exactly who covers cost overruns, and from where exactly the 10 to 20 per cent savings will come.

Last evening, over 100 people gathered in front of City Hall to oppose the deal because of its lack of transparency & accountability, and concerns about increasing privatization.

Ottawa anarchists firebomb RBC

Anarchists have claimed a firebombing of an RBC bank in Ottawa in the early hours of Tuesday, May 18.  A statment was issued an hour after the fire, claiming the action as an attack on RBC for their sponsorship of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and for their financing of the Alberta tar sands.

The statement was posted on the website ottawa.indymedia.org, along with a video of the attack. Police said the fire caused about $300,000 in damage.

Police station attacked in Portland, OR

Last Wednesday, May 12 police in Portland, Oregon killed 25-year-old Keaton Dupree Otis.

Later that night the windows of a community police station were smashed. The action was claimed in a report on anarchistnews.org. 

In late April, after Portland police shot and killed a homeless man, a number of militant demonstrations were organized in the city.

Facebook privacy

Facebook is reportedly debating whether or not to change privacy settings for its users. New privacy settings introduced by the company in April were criticized for being too complex to navigate.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that you need to navigate through 50 settings and more than 170 options to set your privacy to the maximum setting on Facebook.